The Think Tank Hall of Fame

Think Tank #100

Wow. I can’t believe I’ve done one hundred of these things.

I started the Think Tank series in early December of 2023 with a new idea. Instead of only writing longform essays blending together multiple thoughts, I’d experiment with a new formula of isolating only one thought and giving it my full attention.

It’s worked well, and since Thinking Man has grown quite a bit since I started the Think Tank series, I figured it would be a good time to look back at some old favorites.

This was the first one:

This is another one from that first week, a thematic ‘sequel’ of sorts, where I talk about one of my favorite stories:

A post about photography:

A little truth about life, told via the concept of jaywalking (not much of a ‘heavy hitter,’ but I like it):

A somber reflection on the tragedies of city life:

An interesting thought (prompted by a book that I never finished) that I wish would have sparked more discussion:

Some thoughts about a film projector in an art museum:

This one, about life, and video game character creation:

Some thoughts on the art of the sci-fi short story:

This one, where I talk about unfunny comedy through the lens of George Orwell (this is when these things really started getting good):

This one, a refutation to the idea that “movies were so much better back in the day”:

This one, in which I lament the downfall of the modern scholarship (and talk a little bit about ancient philosophers):

A fun one about etymology:

A musing on why people think the way they do:

Thoughts from Book 1 of Plato’s Republic (another book I haven’t finished):

Another absolute favorite, about Orwell and Ancient Greece and how history repeats:

A post about prisons and how we deal with deviants/punishment:

A post on academia (one of the first to spark a genuine, large-scale discussion on here)

As you can see, these have changed a lot. The old ones were shorter, the ideas were ‘smaller.’ Practice makes perfect, after all. After a hundred of these things, I’d hope to have gotten a little better at it.

If you like the older style, go back and read some of them. None really ‘stand out’ much, but for what they are, they’re pretty fun.

Anyway, I’ll leave you with an older one. I think it’s pretty fun, and it captures the ‘spirit’ of what I’ve been trying to do here with this Think Tank series:

As always, thank you for reading (and for sticking with me through all of these things). I hope you enjoy some of these old favorites.

If you think I’ve missed one (John, I’m looking at you) feel free to comment and I’ll add it to the list.

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